QUALITY WORKS.

What makes cars lighter?

The worldwide automotive industry is facing increasingly tougher restrictions on CO2 emissions.
That’s why automakers are aggressively developing zero emission vehicles such as EVs (electric vehicles) and FCVs (fuel cell vehicles). This is particularly true in Japanese automotive industry, where these trends have been driving the demand for new and innovative “Quality” materials and technologies to make cars lighter.

Expertise in lightweight design

German specialty chemicals company LANXESS is one of the leading developers of new materials and technologies under its “Quality Works” initiative. For example, a lightweight solution using Tepex and Durethan from LANXESS has been featured in the Clarity Fuel Cell FCV, the latest model of hydrogen electric vehicle from Honda Motor Co. introduced in the market in March 2016.

What made Honda select LANXESS materials?

A one-shot hybrid molding process for making large components out of its plastic and glass fiber composite is one of the latest solutions that LANXESS is focusing on for the automotive industry. This material made through an innovative process by LANXESS contributes to an approximate 50-percent weight reduction compared to all-metal parts, plus a significant streamlining of the production process.

Development of components through “Quality”-focused R&D

In the development, the Tepex dynalite materials are uniquely composed in several layers of continuous glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite sheets, and Tepex flowcore, a random long glass fiber reinforced composites. This combination enables an easy material flow in the molding process to fill out complicated part geometry, and a greater mechanical strength with a superior characteristic of dynamic energy absorption, which is critical in an application such as a rear bumper beam. Through its HiAnt® custom-made services for lightweight design, LANXESS provided Honda and parts suppliers with property testing services. LANXESS also supported development all the way to mass-production.

Does that mean that the customer can continuously control the production process?

Along with countries such as China, the Netherlands and Norway, Japan is one of the leading nations in terms of electric vehicle sales growth. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced that the country has set a goal of making next-generation vehicles (plug-in hybrids, hybrids, electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, and clean diesel vehicles) account for 50-70% of total vehicle sales by 2030, a dramatic increase from the figure of 26.5% for 2015 (source: METI 2016). By 2030, these vehicles will no longer be called “next generation,” but for now, the demand for new “Quality” materials and processes will continue to grow along with sales of next generation cars.